In the past there have been various types of feeder systems employing a cartridge and feeder. Typically, the cartridge would comprise a container which serves as a storage unit for the chemical. The feeder unit typically contains an inlet and an outlet means for regulating the amount of chemical to be dissolved in the body where the feeder is placed. As is illustrated in the J. W. Christensen patent, U.S. Letters Pat. No. 3,598,536, the container is merely screwed into the feeder apparatus which is then placed in a body of water, such as a pool in order that the amount of chemical dissolved in the pool be regulated to a desired level. Also, illustrating this type of system is W. D. Bond U.S. Letters Pat. No. 3,677,711, wherein there are a plurality of compartment portions in which containers are removably and captivatingly held to accomplish the general objectives as set forth in Christensen. As is illustrated by either of the above patents, little if any attention is paid to the desirability of preventing inadvertent removal by a child or like unknowing individual from coming into contact with a potentially lethal chemical substance in the cartridge.
Typically, the cartridge as described above is screwed into the feeder unit and the chemical is dissolved in the body of water. Before placing the cartridge into the feeder unit a seal is typically removed from the bottom of the cartridge allowing the chemical to make contact with the water once the container is installed in the feeder. Is it at this time when the greatest likelihood for inadvertent contact exists. Generally, small children and like unknowing individuals are allowed within the confines of a pool area. The cartridge inserted in the feeder has the potential for attracting children and other unknowing individuals to examine and possibly play with the feeder unit. Typically a child may try to take apart something which appears to be removably connected. Therefore, in order to efficiently and effectively provide a system for deterring the inadvertent removal of the cartridge with the exposed chemical, a feeder system should be equipped with a safety device which operates when the feeder and the container are in hooked-up relation and when the unit is exposed to the swimmers, including small children or the like and unknowing individuals.
Applicant's invention utilizes a system wherein there is a feeder and a container storing the chemical. The container includes means on the outside surface of the container to deter inadvertent contact of the stored chemical with a child or other unknowing individual. The container may be then placed in a feeder system such as the conventional feeder systems in applicant's figures and the above described patents wherein the feeder system will include an element of the safety removal means and the container itself will contain the major portion of the safety removal means.
While there have been numerous and varying types of safety caps as is illustrated by U.S. Letters Pat. No. 3,827,593, Kramb et al. and U.S. Letters Pat. No. 3,734,332, Grulich, the applicant's search does not reveal any system in which the container itself included the major portion of the safety removal means. For example, in U.S. Letters Pat. No. 2,960,247, Christie, the device having the major portion of the safety removal means was the cap as opposed to a container. The same is illustrated by U.S. Letters Pat. No. 3,269,576, W. J. H. Law, and U.S. Letters Pat. No. 3,601,274, Johnson. Further, it would be impractical for these devices to serve as containers and it is specifically mentioned in the Law U.S. Pat. No. 3,269,576, that these devices are safety closures for containers as opposed to being containers themselves.
Applicant's structure offers the practical advantage that conventional feeder systems would need undergo only minor changes to be readily adapted to applicant's structure. As will be pointed out more fully hereinafter, applicant's structure requires only a thread segment on a conventional container system to be fully adaptable with applicant's safety container. A cap such as the W. J. H. Law cap having major and minor diameters would generally be unsuited for engagement in a conventional feeder system since the feeder system has only one diameter. This points up the general difference between the closure structures and applicant's safety cartridge structure. Within the art of automatic pool feeders and cartridges, it must be remembered that the cartridges are disposable and are continually being removed by the users, whereas the feeder unit is relatively permanent. Thus, the closure systems wherein the cap and the bottle are of generally of the same permanency presents an entirely different set of problems than in the art of chemical feeders. The applicant has specifically devised his device so that it may be readily adaptable to conventional feeders. Thus, the major portion of the safety removable means is on the container rather than the automatic feeder systems which, again, are of a relatively permanent nature. Thus, applicant's device is a relatively simple but very efficient structure which adds safety and practicability to the commercialization of safety removal cartridges.
Moreover, it should be pointed out that applicant regards his invention as a recognition that it is the container itself which should include the safety means rather than to have a cap which prevents the removal of the contents within the container. This is a wide variation and a departure in, generally, an opposite direction than the previous safety devices which were for containers as opposed to the container itself having the safety means. Applicant has further recognized that it is a practical and a commercial advantage to design a safety removal means wherein there is no major and minor diameters as has been generally taught in the previous safety removal closures such as the caps described above.
It is a general object of this invention to provide a safety deterrent means for preventing inadvertent contact of human beings with lethal chemicals by the structure which has been described above and which will be described more fully hereinafter.